By winning the Republican nomination John McCain surprised the pundits who widely believed that the Democrats would settle on their nominee long before the Republicans would. This change of dynamic is unexpectedly good news for McCain and the Republicans.
While the Democrats are busy fighting each other, McCain runs a risk of being old news. He can reverse that by making TV and radio appearances every chance he gets. The uncertainty and the increasingly negative campaigning in the Democratic field also gives the Republicans some breathing room to plan and raise money for the general election.
The voters are likely to suffer from Obama/Clinton fatigue especially if the Democratic race drags on for months. This would make McCain the fresh new thing come November. It is also possible that the Democrats would exhaust some of their donors and enthusiasm among the voters while McCain can get new donors and build support by selling his message to the voters.
The other important factor in favor of McCain is that no matter who the Democratic candidate is, their campaign is likely to be exhausted from the intense primary season. In contrast McCain and his camp have a chance to relax and enjoy the show. It also gives them a chance to know what works against Obama/Clinton without having to work for it.
Plan
John McCain's relatively disorganized camp would be easy prey for the Democrats especially since they have intensively campaigned in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. His camp should survey the voters in these states and address their concerns effectively. McCain also has a good chance of winning over Hispanics (especially if Obama is the nominee) and he should dedicate himself to that cause. He also has ample time to pick his staff and, more importantly, a running mate that would satisfy the Republican base.
John McCain needs to organize his campaign structure to match that of George W. Bush in 2004. The Bush camp followed basic principles that led them to success, including: stick to message discipline, a healthy mistrust of the press, and a tight, leak-proof organization.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Krutic A
Editor:
"McCain also has a good chance of winning over Hispanics (especially if Obama is the nominee) and he should dedicate itself to that cause."
Will the editor please change the 'itself' to 'himself'?
Thank you.
2 - RJ Elliott
Great column.
I think if McCain chooses Romney as his running mate (and sometime soon), he will gain several key advantages:
- Talk-radio will love him for it, and they'll finally have something positive to say about the McCain campaign, instead of merely attacking his Democrat opponent(s).
- Romney is a superior fund-raiser, which should help McCain replenish his coffers in preparation for the general election face-off in the Fall. (Also, Romney might be willing to write a few checks himself, if McCain is game...)
- Romney is younger and more telegenic than McCain, as well as a better speaker. This addresses some of McCain's most glaring weaknesses as a candidate.
- Romney is not afraid to go on the attack, as McCain himself learned during the Republican primaries. One of the most important assets a running-mate brings to the table is the ability to competently launch attacks on the opposition.
- Romney is a credible successor to McCain in 2012, when McCain will be 76 and possibly too old/unhealthy to run for re-election.
- Romney brings executive (corporate, Olympic, and Governor) experience to the ticket, which McCain lacks.
- Romney's strong suit is economics, which is precisely McCain's weak hand.
- Romney's rhetoric is largely conservative, but his actual record is fairly moderate. Therefore, moderates and independents are unlikely to be scared off by his addition to the ticket.
- The Mormon issue will likely be largely moot with Romney occupying the bottom half of the ticket. Southern Baptists and other Christian conservatives aren't going to vote for a pro-abortion secular feminist like Hillary, or a left-wing former-Muslim and current member of a radical Black Nationalist church like Obama, simply because McCain's running mate ain't theologically perfect (in their view).
McCain-Romney is the ideal Republican ticket this year, in my eyes. Thoughts, comments?
3 - Dave Nalle
Being the VP nominee won't alter Romney's basic weakness - that he's an opportunistic fraud.
Dave
4 - REMF
"or a...former-Muslim...like Obama..."
- RJ Elliott
Yeah, and don't forget the evil likes of Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabaar.
5 - Krutic A
I agree with the strengths Romney brings to the ticket - He gives McCain a voice on the economy and can be used as an effective attack dog.
But I dont think McCain particularly likes him to have him around the White House.
And Romney brings some baggage of his own from his Governor days and the primary season where he appeared to have changed views on a variety of subjects.
So Romney..although on McCain's list will most likely not be the choice.
6 - Dr Dreadful
Wouldn't have thought Ali would be one of your icons, REMF. Him being a conchie and all.
7 - Matthew T. Sussman
(1) Being Muslim is not a bad thing.
(2) Obama was never Muslim.
8 - Dr Dreadful
But Matt, don't you know that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes true?
In other news:
1. Hillary is a lesbian.
2. All Democrats are socialists.
3. Everyone living outside the borders of the United States is automatically wrong about everything.
4. John Kerry spent the entirety of his Vietnam tour of duty hiding behind a giant teddy bear in a Saigon brothel.
5. Bill Clinton is not only to blame for 9/11, but personally planned the whole thing and actually piloted the plane that crashed into WTC 2, parachuting out at the last moment.
9 - Propagandist
You nailed it Dr Dre!
Let me help you out with a few more:
1) Bush personally authorizes torture on every terrorist ever caught.
2) Dick Cheney is responsible for the high oil prices and is secretly making tons of money off it.
3) Karl Rove is responsible for everything that goes wrong with the Democrats.
4) Anyone who remotely questions Obama is a racist.
5) Bush and his advisors listen in on every American's phone calls for fun.
10 - REMF
Dr. Dreadful;
Yes, Ali has been one of my heroes since before he was Ali. And I have no problem with his stance against Vietnam, because he had the balls to publicly denounce our involvement. He stood up for his beliefs, risking imprisonment and losing 3 1/2 years out of the prime of his career, which cost him millions of dollars.
Whereas people like Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Bennett, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, Sylvester Stallone, et al, dodged the draft when it was their turn to serve, and then years later became millionaires pretending to be patriots.
In my book, Muhammad Ali is 10 times the patriot as any of the aforementioned.
Angelo Dundee has said, "I wish I was as good a Jew as Ali is a Muslim."
11 - REMF
"or a...former-Muslim...like Obama..."
- RJ Elliott
Or like Idrees Bashir, Rasheed Wallace and Nazr Mohammed...
12 - Dr Dreadful
#9: Thanks, mate!
It's like having my own personal propagandist - oh wait...
:-D
13 - Matthew T. Sussman
I wouldn't exactly call Rasheed Wallace a shining beacon of Islamic living.
14 - RJ Elliott
"Obama was never Muslim."
I dunno about that:
As a boy in Indonesia, Barack Obama crisscrossed the religious divide. At the local primary school, he prayed in thanks to a Catholic saint. In the neighborhood mosque, he bowed to Allah.
...
"To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago," Gibbs' Jan. 24 statement said. In a statement to The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, the campaign offered slightly different wording, saying: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim." The statement added that as a child, Obama had spent time in the neighborhood's Islamic center.
His former Roman Catholic and Muslim teachers, along with two people who were identified by Obama's grade-school teacher as childhood friends, say Obama was registered by his family as a Muslim at both of the schools he attended.
That registration meant that during the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class.
The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque.
...
Neighborhood Muslims worshiped in a nearby house, which has since been replaced by a larger mosque. Sometimes, when the muezzin sounded the call to prayer, Lolo and Barry would walk to the makeshift mosque together, Adi said.
"His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque," Adi said. "I remember him wearing a sarong."
So, like, it's kind of ambiguous, amiright?
15 - Clavos
Does it matter if he IS a Muslim?
Or a Catholic?
A Presbyterian?
Baptist?
Jew?
No...
16 - Matthew T. Sussman
(1) It's ambiguous if you take every bolded conotation to heart, and ignore the rest.
(2) Why the hell does it matter?
(3) I once accepted the communion, but I'm not Catholic.
17 - RJ Elliott
"don't you know that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes true?"
The MSM and the Left certainly keep that truism in mind when they repeatedly tell us that "Obama has never, ever been a Muslim, in any way, shape, or form, and anyone who even insinuates such a thing is completely making everything up and is just an evil liar who should probably be in prison for a hate crime." Or words to that effect.
:-)
18 - Anon
you got it RJ. First they deny he is a muslim or has any connection to it. Then if confronted with evidence, they say 'oh well..so what? what difference does it make?'
So my liberal amigos, Him being a one-time muslim per se does not make a difference but his lying and pretending to be something he is not makes a huge difference.
And that is the difference. Running away from his past doesnt make it go away.
19 - RJ Elliott
"Does it matter if he IS a Muslim?"
I think I'll let the individual voters decide the correct answer to that question, Clavos. (By the way, I didn't say he IS a Muslim; I merely cited a recent newspaper article that shows he apparently WAS a Muslim for at least a few years during his youth in Indonesia. I think most people are now well aware that he is not currently a Muslim, but instead a member of a radical, anti-American Black Nationalist cult.)
20 - RJ Elliott
"It's ambiguous if you take every bolded conotation to heart, and ignore the rest."
No, if you read only the bolded parts, he's clearly a Muslim. If you read the entire thing, it's ambiguous.
"Why the hell does it matter?"
That's up for individual voters to decide, not you or me or Keith Olbermann.
"I once accepted the communion, but I'm not Catholic."
But it would be correct to say that you once attended a Catholic church and received communion, right? And it would likewise be correct to state that Obama studied Islam and attended mosques in a foreign country for at least a couple of years, while registered as a Muslim, right?
I think the American people are mature and reasonable enough to look at ALL the facts, and make a responsible decision on Election Day. I don't think they need certain facts censored, you know, for their own good.
21 - Dr Dreadful
RJ, that newspaper article doesn't say what you obviously dearly wish it said. Catholic school, Fridays at the mosque - in an Islamic country still hung over from colonial days. Seems to me that young Barack was just like any regular kid - trying to fit in.
22 - Clavos
"I think most people are now well aware that he is not currently a Muslim, but instead a member of a radical, anti-American Black Nationalist cult."
Really? And you know this because you've seen video of Jerry Wright on TV and youtube? Have you seen Obama's membership card?
If you think "most people" are "aware" of that, you must think they're all idiots. That's called projection.
Don't forget that voters in Minnesota elected Keith Ellison. Not everyone worries about a candidate's religion fortunately, or we never would have had JFK.
Imagine that; a Papist as president of the US! Who'd a thunk it?
23 - RJ Elliott
"RJ, that newspaper article doesn't say what you obviously dearly wish it said. Catholic school, Fridays at the mosque - in an Islamic country still hung over from colonial days. Seems to me that young Barack was just like any regular kid - trying to fit in."
Cool. You're entitled to your own interpretation. So is everyone else. That's what is so awesome about living in a democracy with free speech! :-)
24 - RJ Elliott
"I think most people are now well aware that he is not currently a Muslim, but instead a member of a radical, anti-American Black Nationalist cult."
---Really? And you know this because you've seen video of Jerry Wright on TV and youtube? Have you seen Obama's membership card?
Obama just admitted in an interview tonight that he's been attending this "church" since at least 1992. Jeremiah Wright married Barack and Michelle. Jeremiah Wright baptized both his daughters. Jeremiah Wright was the inspiration for one of Obama's books. Jeremiah Wright was, until this evening, an official member of Obama's campaign. These are all facts.
---If you think "most people" are "aware" of that, you must think they're all idiots. That's called projection.
It's been all over the news the last couple days. I would hope that most people try to keep at least somewhat current on election news.
---Don't forget that voters in Minnesota elected Keith Ellison. Not everyone worries about a candidate's religion fortunately, or we never would have had JFK.
This is true. Voters in a single Congressional district in the blue state of Minnesota elected a former member of Louis Farrakhan's Nation Of Islam a few years ago. Good for them, amiright?
---Imagine that; a Papist as president of the US! Who'd a thunk it?
Did JFK's Priest hate America and White people? I must have missed that...
25 - RJ Elliott
For those interested in the news:
Controversial minister leaves Obama campaign
Obama’s campaign announced that the minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., had left its spiritual advisory committee after videotapes of his sermons again ignited fierce debate in news accounts and political blogs.
...
Obama spoke warmly of Wright, who retired last month as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Wright is a man “I’ve known for 17 years, [who] helped bring me to Jesus, helped bring me to church,” he said.
“I strongly condemn” Wright’s statements, but “I would not repudiate the man,” Obama said.
...
But the sermons, at least one of which was delivered long before Wright retired last month, revived uncomfortable questions about Obama’s ties to the minister, whom conservative critics have accused of advocating black separatism.
A videotape of one sermon captures Wright using a harsh racial epithet to argue that Clinton could not understand the struggles of African Americans.
“Barack knows what it means, living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright said on Christmas Day of last year. “Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain’t never been called a [N-word]!”
In another sermon, delivered five days after the 9/11 attacks, Wright seems to imply that the United States had brought the terrorist violence on itself.
“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York, and we never batted an eye,” Wright says. “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back in our own front yards.”
In a later sermon, Wright revisits the theme, declaring: “No, no, no, not God bless America " God damn America!”
Obama: I didn’t hear inflammatory sermons [LOL]
Obama took the title of his 2006 autobiography, “The Audacity of Hope,” from a sermon by Wright, who baptized him and officiated at his wedding. He has called Wright “a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible.”
...
“Mr. Obama obviously would not choose to belong to Mr. Wright’s church and seek his advice unless he agreed with at least some of his views,” Wall Street Journal columnist Ron Kessler, publisher of the conservative Web site NewsMax.com, wrote Friday.
Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of the Web site of the conservative magazine National Review, wrote Friday that “now we know he’s contributed money to, voluntarily listened to, and publicly defended a cleric who peddles racial warfare.”
...
The videotapes of Wright’s sermons have long been available for sale on the church’s Web site ...
Let's see. Obama has been a member of this church for around 20 years. On the first Sunday after 9/11, his pastor (who Obama clearly has a very close relationship with) used the opportunity to denounce his own country. Some time later, he preached "God Damn America!" to an applauding crowd. Obama claims to have not heard about these "sermons." That's interesting.
But hey - Mitt Romney is unelectable because of his religion!